Law

With eighty academic postholders, representing a wide and varied range of research interests, the Faculty is able to accommodate research students in most fields of Law. 

DPhil and MLitt in Law

Course Code | 003000 

The DPhil is at the apex of the Law Faculty's pyramid of research degrees. It entails writing a thesis of between 75,000 and 100,000 words over a period of three or at most four years (including a probationer year), and the thesis must make a significant and substantial contribution to its field. 

The MLitt is one level below the DPhil in the hierarchy of difficulty and originality, calling for a thesis of between 40,000 and 50,000 words written over two or at most three years. Students are never admitted to the MLitt degree directly and will make an initial application via the same route as the DPhil.

MPhil in Law

Course Code | Please see the departmental website for information

The MPhil is a research degree available only as an add-on to the taught BCL and MJur degrees. Students write a supervised thesis of up to 30,000 words, as well as completing a course in legal research method. 

MSt in Legal Research

Course Code | 003040 

Students pursuing the MSt write a supervised thesis of up to 30,000 words, as well as completing a course in legal research method. Students are normally expected to complete the course in three terms, though the regulations allow up to five terms in total.

BCL

Course Code | 002640 

MJur

Course Code | 003030

The BCL and MJur are our world-renowned taught graduate courses in law, designed to serve outstanding law students from common law and civil law backgrounds.

As masters level degrees, their academic standard is significantly higher than that required in a first law degree, such as a BA, LLB, or JD, and only those with outstanding first law degrees are admitted.

Courses are not introductory, and students are expected to analyse complex material critically and to make their own contribution to the debate. In the seminars which feature as one of the means by which the course is taught, one will find students from a wide range of jurisdictions and backgrounds, including research students.

Students choose four courses (one of which can be a 12,500 word dissertation) from a selection of 30 or so options.

The BCL and the MJur are drawn from the same pool of outstanding applicants and share the same classes. The existence of two degrees is designed to meet the needs of both common law students, and of civil law students who wish to study the common law.

BCL and MJur students have the same course options available to them, except that MJur students may study one traditional English common law subject, notably contract, tort, company, or constitutional law.

• Length of programme: Ten months
• Further programme information
• Programme specification

MSc in Law and Finance

Course Code | 003021

The MSc in Law and Finance is a full-time ten-month programme providing a rigorous engagement with the area of intersection between law, finance and economics, expertise in which is keenly sought by law firms, regulators and financial institutions. It combines a highly analytic academic core with tailor-made practical applications derived from continuing collaboration with professional and regulatory organisations.

The programme consists of core courses in economics and finance, together with elective courses chosen from a range of advanced legal topics relevant to financial transactions, and a core interdisciplinary course in the law and economics of corporate transactions which requires students to synthesise insights from other courses.

Drawing on the strengths of the Law Faculty and the Saïd Business School, the MSc is a world-leading programme that will act as a launch-pad for a successful career in law, finance, regulation or academia.

It is open to students either with an outstanding undergraduate degree in law, or an outstanding academic record comprising a non-law undergraduate degree and a postgraduate or professional qualification in law. 

• Length of programme: Ten months
• Further programme information
• Programme specification

Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice

Course Code | 003415 

The Diploma is a postgraduate vocational course for people embarking on a career in IP law and practice. It is a one-year, part-time course designed to give junior practitioners a grounding in the fundamentals of IP law and practice. It is taught by senior practitioners and academics, and represents a unique collaboration between the Oxford Law Faculty and the Intellectual Property Lawyers’ Association.

The course comprises a two week residential course and seven weekend workshops covering all aspects of Intellectual Property Law. Students submit four pieces of coursework and take two examinations in the summer.

No college affiliation is required for students studying for the Diploma.

• Length of programme: One year
• Programme specification

The Bodleian Law Library is the largest law library in the UK. Its world-class collection provides extensive coverage, both on paper and online, in all major areas of law. The BLL comprises a dedicated Graduate Reading Room with 45 desks, 30 of which have power and ethernet connections available - with the rest are covered by the wireless network - and several sofas for more relaxed reading. 

Graduates typically go into legal practice - as barristers or solicitors - in the UK and in jurisdictions throughout the world, or continue to careers in academia.